Tuesday, September 19, 2006

THE END

16.04.05

My dear fellow travellers. I come back with this text not only to leave your life, or even the bloggers’ community, for good. The time has finally come for me to stop talking so directly about myself.
My decision to desist from blogs does not need explanations and justifications. It’s simple. I decide to move on, intending to do equally important things that those of you who know me well already or those of you who met me recently through this almost daily contact might imagine. I would like to thank you all once again. Without understanding it, you helped me figure out a lot of things about myself, mainly as regards what I can succeed in and what heights I can reach.

It’s true that I can’t forget that this blog was created for specific reasons and this is why I couldn’t finish this personal work of mine but by being clear now about what I have been implying through my stories.

Deriving from my personal experience, I am proud to state that in this world where I’m living there is not or there should not be any person with a disability in the way that we tend to describe them or meet them, i.e. like shadows or figures or existing things inside our body or the body of the person next to us. Noone is born absolutely capable of doing everything. Noone has the same opportunities, abilities or capacities with the other. Despite that, everyone of us has the ability to choose the eyes with which he or she will look at oneself and at the other person both when we are awake and when we are dreaming.

Disability is nothing but a situation that we have invented all by ourselves (disabled or not), trying to explain the difference, the hardship, the things that are impossible to understand or the random facts. Most of the times, we decide to speak of ourselves starting with the word ‘not’. We say: ‘I cannot walk, I cannot see, I cannot hear’. This is the worst thing we can do. Without understanding it, we align our existence with a huge problem that is impossible to solve precisely because we insist on emphasizing on the problem and not on its solution. We should say: ‘I can become someone great’, persuading ourselves and the others that we have equal rights and obligations. That’s the only way we could really help you understand that there is indeed a reason to rate us highly as people who claim a place in the empire of able-bodied people. And I go on saying: ‘Despite being a person with a disability, I have the right to life and therefore I can, if I want to, go for a walk to the supermarket and then just look at the ceiling of my house. Nonetheless, the important thing is that with much effort and a little luck I can achieve thousands of things so as to have absolutely no reason to feel sorry for myself or for the people who are in my place or in an even worse state. When this happens, I stop being –or being considered- problematic and I can laugh at you who might still believe the opposite. (Somewhere deep inside I suspect that, if you look straight into my eyes you may even fall in love with me. Would you really take that?)’.

I take you by the hand before you ask me anything, before you wonder whether my words are political or not. You are ready to talk to me about the movement again. What movement? The one of the people with a disability. That’s where the wrongdoings begin; that is my answer to you. From the insiders. From the people who take advantage of their disability to make money. Not all people are the same, luckily. There are people who really fight, knowing how to claim things. I don’t belong to them either. I have done very few things to be considered a fighter. I was never a rebel with a weblog, as the ‘Postman’ wrote for me and the other bloggers. I’m just a worried passer-by and my decision to ‘quit’ this weblog proves the truth of my words. Of course, I couldn’t say goodbye but with a song, a Greek one this time. I was looking for something but I found something else. Never mind.

If you don’t find a place for yourself in a wrecked country
If wishful thinking is not enough for you
If you don’t find serenity in a magic dream-catcher
If an armful of prison’s cells are not enough for you

Then what a pity, what a pity, what a pity
You are excessive and you breathe your last
Then what a pity, what a pity, what a pity
You fit nowhere, you fit nowhere at last

If you don’t find yourself in a stupid joke
If a cruel prayer is not enough for you
If you don’t find room in an empty brothel
If a broken body is not enough for you

Then what a pity, what a pity, what a pity
You are excessive and you breathe your last
Then what a pity, what a pity, what a pity
You fit nowhere, you fit nowhere at last, nowhere at last

Thank you for being able to find room for yourselves in the pages of my weblog

6 comments:

nikolas perdikaris said...

Melissa,

About a week ago I just sent you a mail saying that, yes, I would like to become a member but still I haven't heard any news from you. Please, leave a comment if you pass by again or else I will mail you another acceptance note.

Anonymous said...

Nicholas, good evening (well... literally, good night, since it's about 12:50 or something); I'm posting this in english so that it can be readable from fellow readers here. I am sure you have embarked on equally exciting plans for your own future; plus, we have a lot to do in the next years, as you know! I'm glad I took a serious part in this work and that I've helped you make it internationally accessible. I am pretty much interested in your links as well. Be on the alert for more comments that are to come from me. Lots of hugs to you and to Maria, I really miss you two. Let me know when you read this! Big hugs, Nefelaki

nikolas perdikaris said...

Nefelaki,

We just read your comment. Well, we are sitting here thogh it's Saturday night since I caught a flu and there is nothing better to do than stay inside.

Maria is next to me swearing because I do not pay attention to her. I guess I have to shut this devil's machine down.

Hugs and kisses from both of us!

Anonymous said...

Nikolako kai Maraki,
I am at work and have the flu as well. My dad was in hospital this morning -actually he rushed there- due to a kidney problem but he is doing okay, meaning that he'll have treatment at home and he'll go back there for tests in the beginning of the next week or so. Maria, did you have the operation? Please tell me ALL details. (Maria, if you swear at Nikolakos, please continue to do so. Please!) Tons of hugs and kisses to both of you. I hope we'll be able to see each other soon. In the meantime... I just love blogs and, when I'll have the time, Nikolas will help me construct my own. Love to both of you again.

Philip. said...

It's a shame you will no longer be blogging.

Philip
www.disabled-help.org

Thomas Wright said...

I was standing in the middle of contentment and not considering “disability” a disability at all after reading this one. But I realized that it is more of the second one and a little of the first. It’s good to know that you are willing to do whatever you have to do and never let anything affect you, because as you said, “Disability is nothing but a situation that we have invented all by ourselves”. That was a very concrete statement.